| October 04, 2006 | Wednesday | Ramazan 10, 1427 |
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The rot at Wapda
Denial of enhanced profit
Beautification plan for Sukkur
Stone Age
Exercise in futility
Copyrights, etc.
A book long overdue
Sword of honour
Bush unplugged
Consistent Cowasjee
Figure incorrect
Education sans manners
PTCL clarifies
Readers are requested to restrict their comments to a maximum of 400 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for reasons of clarity and space. Letters, including those by e-mail, should carry the complete postal address of the sender. The views expressed in these columns do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.—Editor
THE recent step taken by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in developing a system of ranking of the universities in Pakistan based on certain factors is highly commendable. It will help parents and students in making important decisions regarding admissions before they start filling up admission forms.
Unfortunately, the HEC has ignored some very important factors that would also help a serious student. Other than ranking universities by the number of students or faculty they have, the HEC should also include a separate column called ‘faculty quality’, which would quantify the university faculty’s competence, dedication to their work, and their attitude towards students.
Being a post-graduate student at a respectable university myself, I feel that military rule in the university is stressing more on construction work, and less on constructive work to improve the student-teacher relationship. The teachers do not believe in updating courseware for the students, and sometimes do not have command over the subject they are teaching. Photocopy culture is prevalent on the campus, and plagiarism, which is now ingrained in the minds of the students, is going unchecked.
To quote an example, I recall a presentation that my colleagues and I had to deliver on various topics.
The worthy teacher probably was not in a good mood that day, and in typical ‘masterjee’ style rebuked the students for their incompetence, without going through the hard work and serious effort some of them had put in. On various other occasions he has displayed inappropriate attitude towards the students. The students have no choice but to comply. They know that a report against the teacher would infuriate him and lead to further problems.
When the absence of a beard is the one of the most seriously considered selection criteria for lecturers in universities, then such ill consequences are inevitable.
I request the good people at the HEC to look into this matter seriously, because I believe it is important for the future of the students. Adding a few columns relating to the important factors like the one mentioned above would not require much effort. An on-campus survey and direct interaction with the students to determine the faculty rating would be a very bold step in improving the quality of education being imparted in the universities, and would give more power and freedom of expression to the students.
A CONCERNED STUDENT
Lahore
THE countrywide blackout and the subsequent inquiry putting the blame on disregard for safety practices is only the tip of the iceberg affecting the organisation called Wapda. The professional capabilities of the engineering staff are at rock bottom and this has nothing to do with the lack of professional experience.
The engineers serving in Wapda are whiling away time and are least interested in safeguarding the interests of their employer for the simple reason that they are the most neglected cadre of this organisation.
How can an engineer be expected to work diligently when he gets his first promotion from grade 17 to 18 after almost 20 years of service, while in the same time-frame he sees his friends with simple BA degrees progressing to grade 19 or 20 in the civil or military bureaucracy?
The fate of senior cadres is equally bad as their chances of further promotion are blocked by the induction of army officers for key post. The administration and finance wings of Wapda give rapid promotions to their officers but the same is denied to the power wing and water wing engineers.
Now with the boom in the construction industry and the creation of so many private power producers who employ engineers at much higher salaries, no engineer is willing to join Wapda at a meagre salary and in a bad working environment with dismal chances of promotion.
The situation at Wapda will deteriorate with every passing day unless the management makes some big efforts to stop the rot and make it a professional organisation that one can feel proud to serve with.
AYUB MALIK
Sargodha
APROPOS of Mohammad Aleem Sheikh’s letter ‘Denial of enhanced profit’ (Sept 19), I would like to say that an eye-wash is offered by federal finance managers in the yearly budget.
The increase is intended to attract new investors rather than providing relief to the senior citizens/pensioners. Each time a few letters appear in newspapers appealing for some justice with old account holders but all goes to waste on the deaf ears of the authorities.
I, like thousands of other senior citizens, have also invested my life-long savings in the NSS scheme for survival. Out of some expectations, I approached the NSS centre manager to try my luck. I was more than disappointed to get the same stereotype reply that it is for new investors.
“Could I withdraw the amount and re-invest?” I asked. “Yes, but with a deduction of Rs1,000 per Rs100,000” was the reply.
Now, if one has invested the maximum amount allowed (Rs3 million), he will have to surrender Rs30,000 in a go. This loss one will take next 75 months to recover before the new rate starts. By then one may not be in this world.
The authorities are requested to be flexible towards the senior citizens/pensioners/widows. One day they will be in our line.
HAJI ASHFAQ
Muscat, Oman
THIS has reference to the report ‘Beautification plan for Sukkur’ (Metropolitan, Sept 22). While addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of installation of a globe at the Lab-i-Mehran roundabout, the district nazim vowed to beautify this third largest city of the province of Sindh. The globe has been erected by employing services of a famous artist at a cost of 3.5 million, borne by some organisations.
The question is whether such monuments as are built after spending enormous money beautify the city while its entire road network is a shambles, sidewalks littered with garbage, left to be consumed by scavengers, sewerage system destroyed, buildings constructed in violation of the relevant laws and their exterior mostly unplastered, giving the town a haunted look, traffic gone unmanageable, drinking water highly contaminated, public parks encroached upon by influential people, book stores converted into cloth and jewellery shops, river banks usurped by the land- grabbers and unbridled construction of multi-storey buildings that are eye-sore for beholders.
The city of Sukkur, located on the river Indus, used to be one of the cleanest cities of the country, and not very long ago was bursting with educational and social activities. If the guardians of the city are really interested in restoring it to its past glory, they should utilise funds on maintaining/developing the existing infrastructure instead of wasting huge sums on such meaningless objects which will ultimately experience the same apathy and neglect as the other monuments of historical significance, i.e., clock towers, have suffered.
ALTAMASH M. KURESHI
Karachi
ALLOW me to disagree with Ibrahim M. Khalil (letter, Sept 26). We neither need US bombs nor the KESC and Wapda to take us back to the Stone Age. We as a people are doing it ourselves. The longer we stay indifferent to the combined forces of primitive male chauvinism in their designs to subjugate half of our citizenry, the faster we’ll travel back from now to the Stone Age.
Are we not guilty of tolerating the so-called ‘Hudood Ordinance’ on our statute books for the last 27 years? But in reality how many women are equal citizens of this country with equal right guaranteed and enshrined in the Constitution of this Islamic Republic of Pakistan? We seem to be begging for cooperation from the clergy for amendments to these cruel laws. They are in fact the same people who are responsible for this tragedy in the first place.
We must demand removal of this Ordinance here and now. Repeal these ‘Hudood laws’ without any further delay. Women in Pakistan are not chattels and nobody has the right to decide their fate. Women comprise about 50 per cent population of this country. Let 50 per cent seats in all assemblies and government jobs be reserved for women and let them decide and pass laws with the support of the majority of the rest of the 50 per cent regarding their legal status in the country, as well as in society at large. That is the only way justice can be done and women can be empowered for their betterment and they can stop depending upon the male generosity.
AFTAB SYED ALAM
USA
I WOULD like to appreciate Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column ‘A continued exercise in futility’ (Sept 25). In that, for the first time someone has given the true picture of Khwaja Nazimuddin.
It is a recognised fact and known by all that he was an honest man, honest politician to the core but why he stepped down was not because he was ‘weak’ as people tend to say but because of ‘being honest he could not survive as the forces of dishonesty got the better of him’.
So, it was literally one honest man against the others. “He had to go”.
He abolished zamindari in East Pakistan being from a zamindar family himself, and if this is not strength of character I don’t know what is, to put the country before self.
Of what is left of Pakistan is a corrupt, selfish leaders out for themselves leaving Pakistan to slip in the sands.
And as for the ‘Islamic’ Republic, who says so? It is the most un-Islamic country in the world for all that goes on here, corruption, violence, law and order, crime, illiteracy, inequality, sifarish, poverty, chauvinism, unpunctuality, filthiness, dishonour, etc.
So I don’t think you do wrong in omitting that. Rather by just putting Islamic does not make it so.
SHAHNAZ BABAR
Karachi
ON Sept 19 army tanks engulfed seats of power in the Thai capital, and the democratically-elected prime minister (who was on a foreign visit) was deposed. This was accomplished in a thoroughly professional manner by cutting off all TV networks. Now a retired general (a ‘civilian’) has been appointed prime minister.
It seems the world is learning from us after all. Indeed, we should sue for royalties since our way of governance is being copied so blatantly around the world. Along with Gen Musharraf’s book, this has become our second worthy export.
I think the next time the army plans a takeover (indeed, if they ever decide to leave power) they will have to use a countrywide blackout to befuddle the masses, since cutting off TV networks has become an old and, therefore, worthless tactic.
We are already practised hands at this while all the other countries, no matter how backward and ‘unenlightened’, will struggle to match this new low in tactical warfare against the masses.
TALHA BIN HAMID
Karachi
THE first and foremost qualification to gauge a person’s suitability for a job in any of the oil-rich Gulf states is his country’s standing in the ‘Desired Nationality Anatomy’(DNA) Chart. Any other criterion, including merit, comes much later. An obvious corollary of the chart is “you show us the face and I will give you the rule’.
Please do not fall for the ‘united Muslim ummah’ myth which is not based on ground realities. Pakistanis acquire one of the lowest positions in the DNA chart. Simply because we have been authors of our own misfortune, and our self-created demons have come to hound us.
About 60 per cent of Kuwait’s population is made of expatriates. Indians far outnumber any other nationality, including the Egyptians who have a common language and religion, plus the fact that they have a political say in this region. To take out an Indian work visa takes hardly two weeks. A Pakistani visit visa requires approval from Aman ul Daula, the department to which visas of the very few nationalities considered security risks are referred. This leads to a long and tedious process which very rarely reaches its logical end.
Working in the Gulf I often ask myself: why are we always in the line of fire? Multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic societies generally believe in collective punishments. Every so often Pakistanis make headlines in the local newspapers — like nabbed at the airport with a huge cache of heroin. I have read articles in local newspapers where Pakistanis are considered a moral threat to the local new generation.
When the death penalty was introduced here for drug trafficking, Pakistanis were the first to be executed publicly some time around August 2005. All political, religious, sectarian violence in Pakistan is reported in bold captions in the local newspapers. There are photographs showing different human organs spread all over in a mosque or Imambargah.
President Musharraf’s book In the Line of Fire has finally provided a much awaited break to Pakistanis to be out of the line of fire. In a short span of seven years destiny exposed President Musharraf to events world leaders do not come across in a life time. Rest assured it is no Friends not Masters or Daughter of the East. There is no air of arrogance and the book has substance which the president has shared with the common man of Pakistan.
I am due to return to Pakistan on a holiday and I have received a number of requests from local friends to bring a copy. In fact, some of them want an Arabic translation.
NASIR KHAN
Kuwait
THE other day (Sept 23) a prominent news item was that for the first time a woman cadet won the Sword of Honour at the PAF Academy, which is awarded to an individual for not only exceptional flying skill but also for outstanding leadership qualities. It was described as a historic first by a woman in Pakistan.
It is a first, but there is hardly any history involved because the PAF started accepting women for combat flying training only two years ago and six of them have been commissioned so far. A total of 36 cadets got their wings out of which three were women, therefore, Saira Amin did better than all the 32 males and two women. It is surprising that out of the first six women that completed flying training one got the Sword.
My conclusion is that either Pilot Officer Saira Amin is a person of exceptionally rare flying skill and leadership potential, or the standard of males being inducted by the PAF has deteriorated.
Now the Army has announced that 40 women cadets will start training next month. Let us see how they fare against the gentlemen cadets.
BRIG (r) K.N. IQBAL
Lahore
WHILE responding to a question during a post-UN session, Mr Bush indicated that he would order US forces to enter Pakistan if needed to capture Taliban leadership.
His statement was spontaneous and firm. It also exhibits his disregard for territorial integrity of sovereign countries in general and Muslim countries in particular.
It is high time for Americans to consider what leadership they have elected for themselves.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan foreign office remains indifferent.
Prof S. M. IQBAL
Karachi
THIS refers to Ardeshir Cowasjee’s column entitled ‘The contentious book‘ (Oct 1). Mr Cowasjee has shown his true nature by glossing over Gen Musharraf’s book. The most important thing he could find to comment upon was what Richard Armitage may or may not have said.
He does not find any other chapter to talk about. That this is an insipid and blatant attempt to appease his uniformed and under-cover paymasters, is further brought out by very conveniently letting the general know that he (Cowasjee) has bought 10 of his books. He must now be anxiously waiting by the phone for a thank-you call.
I must, however, commend him on his consistency. One, he never criticises a ‘fauji’ unless he is out of uniform or dead (like Zia) and, two, everything in the world can be blamed on ZAB. If he had his way, Cowasjee would blame the tsunami on Mr Bhutto.
ABDUL SHAKOOR
Karachi
I WAS going through Shahid Javed Burki’s article in your esteemed newspaper titled ‘More stress on positives’ (Sept 26). While he has made an insightful analysis as always about the economic situation in the South Asian neighbourhood, the figure quoted on the Indian foreign exchange reserves is incorrect.
The figure quoted by Mr Burki of $27 billion as of July 2006 is not right. The actual figure is $162.7 billion as of July 14, 2006 as per the Reserve Bank of India figures (http://www.rbi.org.in/ scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=15124)
SANDIP DUTTA
Kolkata, India
I ENJOY reading letters to the editor in Dawn. In one letter (Sept 27) Mr B.F. Cowasjee (perhaps a relative of Ardeshir Cowasjee, a brilliant weekly writer in Dawn), says the parents’ privilege and duty to inculcate good manners in their children is greater than the teachers’. I would like to say that it is the duty of teachers, parents and also society, in equal measure, to show the way to good manners. Children are easy learners.
M. KRISHNAMACHARY
Mumbai, India
THIS refers to the letters titled ‘Faulty phones’ (Oct 1), regarding telephone number 6632280.
The PTCL would like to clarify that the case has been gone through in detail and found that the rates were changed as per the tariff. The confusion arose due to reduction of rates in the month of August 2006, with effect from August 10.
Until August 9 the tariff for a three-minute booked call to India was Rs67.50 and Rs18 was charged for each additional minute. From August 10 the rate for the three-minute booked call was reduced to Rs37.50 and Rs10 for each additional minute.
The same charges have been billed to the valued customer which were as per the prevailing tariff.
SALEEM KHAN PRO, STR-III,
Karachi
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